


Polaroid

by panchostokes (badwolfrun)



Series: Nick/Greg Ficlets [72]
Category: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Introspection, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:48:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23734129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badwolfrun/pseuds/panchostokes
Summary: Family, fair, faded. Nick reflects on the innocence of his youth and changing desires.
Relationships: Greg Sanders/Nick Stokes
Series: Nick/Greg Ficlets [72]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1257824
Comments: 10
Kudos: 16





	Polaroid

**Author's Note:**

> for an anon on tumblr who asked me to write a drabble from a selection of words (and I just slightly surpassed the "drabble" category)
> 
> Cameo from Nick's kids, Parker and Madison.

There was a lot of things Nick missed about Texas. His friends, his family, the atmosphere in general, but he also missed certain events, activities that only seemed to take place on the homestead of Texas. 

It’s not that Las Vegas was boring, of course, far from it, but the activities in Vegas lean much more towards the…devious side of the spectrum. Dangerous. Sexual. When he thinks of Vegas, he thinks of wild nights, spent with one or more partners. Smoke and booze masking the seven deadly sins that loom over the city like a dark cloud that’s illuminated by an overwhelming amount of neon. Every step you take in Vegas is a game of chance, you can win big or lose it all before you can even blink. And when you lose, it’s devastating, heartbreaking, the large, imposing signs bore into your soul as you try to escape, but you can’t–you’re trapped here in your own terrible choices that you may or may not remember from the night before, though whatever happened you could have _sworn_ was the best time of your life. Because if you win, you are on top of the world, near _royalty_ with the rewarding _ching-ching-ching_ as money rains down around you, fulfilling the promise of wealth and fortune that acts as a siren’s call to the city in the first place, in more ways than just the physical payment, but an emotional one, too. Another soul exchanging fluids with yours, entanglement of flesh and soft murmurs of “yes, forever, we’ll be here, together, forever.”

Even though that was a lie. Another sin in the city of painted lies, and Nick had discovered the reality behind the facade almost immediately, though the thought, the _chance_ that perhaps there was some truth to it all was what kept him there in the first place. 

Well, that, and the spiky haired youth that stole his heart.

But when he thinks of Texas, he thinks of clear skies and green grass splotched with dirt trampled with horseshoes and boot prints of all sizes. He thinks of cotton candy, farm animals, carnival rides, giant stuffed animals. Laughter. From his parents, who seem happier than ever before, carefree, as if they never had to work another day in their life. From his siblings, who put aside their differences and come together as a micro-community of people who share similar physical qualities even if they don’t share the same ideals and morals all the time. From himself, a genuine smile plastered on his face as his mother documented the pure, wholesome joy in her youngest son with a picture. And then another, with his siblings. And then another with his parents. And then another, with the entire family all together, having placed a small amount of trust and good will in a kind stranger who didn’t ask for anything in return as he snapped a polaroid of the Stokes family at the Texas State Fair. 

Nostalgia tugged at his ears, whispered to his fingers to dig out that picture from his jean pocket. He was not in Texas, but if he held up the picture and compared what was in front of his eyes to it, he would see that the San Diego Summer Festival held a similar resemblance to the wholesome promises of his youth. 

The colors in the picture had dulled, the paper rippled with soft, white cracks cutting through the smiles on his family’s faces. He suddenly felt so _old_ looking at this picture, as if it had been taken in another century. 

“Hey, Nick, you coming?” Greg’s voice echoed through his memory, calling his attention away from the faded polaroid and into the vibrant world ahead of him. Greg Sanders, standing a few feet away, hand in hand with two children, outstretching their unoccupied hands towards their father with wide smiles on their faces. 

“Yeah, I am,” Nick’s face crinkled with his own smile, and his nostrils tickled with the same scent of cotton candy that he knows Madison will be asking for in less than a minute’s time–

“Daddy, c’monnnnnn I want some cott’n candyyyy!” Madison exclaimed as Parker shook his head, laughing. 

“I’m coming, sweetheart!” Nick laughed back, placing the picture back into his pocket and walking up to Greg, planting a soft kiss on his cheek before accepting the hands of his children, and within seconds they were arranged into a small chain of linked hands, walking together.

“You alright, babe?” Greg asked in a low whisper as they passed the welcoming banner. He wasn’t _actually_ worried, of course, because he knows when Nick is truly troubled, and there was no room for troubles in a wonderland such as this.

“Yeah, Greg,” Nick replied breathlessly, beaming as bright as the sun as he saw the same twinkle in Greg’s eyes. “This is perfect.” 


End file.
